www.lpi.nsw.gov.

au

What are
SURVEY MARKS?
Survey marks support billions of dollars of investment,
property rights and infrastructure. There are many types of
survey marks used for various proposes.
Permanent Survey Marks
Permanent survey marks are fundamental marks that
define location for surveying, mapping and engineering
projects. Uses include housing developments, new road and
bridge construction, improving railways and environmental
mapping.

MARKS
All about
Protecting
them

Trig Station

Permanent Mark

WHY PROTECT
SURVEY MARKS?
Survey marks provide a wealth of important information to
a wide range of people in the community. They are used
to support the surveying of property boundaries, but are
also important to engineering, road building, mapping and
other land surveys. The loss of survey marks can significantly
degrade the integrity of the legal property boundaries and
impact on the costs of development projects that depend on
position and height.

How survey
marks are lost

State Survey Mark

Cadastral Survey Marks

Cadastral survey marks are used to define property
boundaries. Survey marks near properties provide an
accurate and reliable reference to locate boundaries. Many
cadastral marks are buried usually between 0.5 and 1
metre from a property corner.

Typical construction
activity along a
footpath

Over the last decade in excess of

$1 million worth of permanent
survey marks have been
destroyed in NSW per year*.
This does not include the loss
in value of destroyed cadastral
marks or the lost value to the
community and industry that
survey marks provide.
Survey marks are usually
destroyed by development
activity, particularly:

road works and footpath construction

roadside slashing
shopping mall developments
Concrete Block and
Boundary Peg

Galvanised Iron Pipe

Drill Hole and

Wing in Kerb

Alignment Pin

street beautification projects

underground utility upgrade or replacement

gas

water

electricity

telecommunication cable installation.

* Based upon cost of mark placement and survey

It is in everyones interest to take care of SURVEY MARKS

SURVEY MARKS
Need to Be Relocated
It is inevitable that survey marks will be destroyed from
time to time by various types of works, e.g. permanent
marks and reference marks may be obliterated in a mall
redevelopment.
There are procedures in place for times when a survey mark
has to be removed or replaced. The Surveyor General has
guidelines for the replacement of survey marks. See the
Surveyor Generals Direction No 11. Preservation of Survey
Infrastructure on the LPI website www.lpi.nsw.gov.au

Destruction or Removal
can Cost $$

The removal or destruction of survey marks is costly to the

community. Section 24(1) of the Surveying and Spatial
Information Act 2002 states that a person must not remove,
damage, destroy, displace, obliterate or deface any survey
mark unless authorised to do so by the Surveyor General.
A person found guilty of breaching the Act by a Court, may
be required to pay a penalty up to $20,000.

SURVEY MARKS
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Paint
Yellow/white paint
on the mark, or
surrounding features.

HOW TO PROTECT
SURVEY MARKS
Before works commence
Find out if there are survey marks located in the area of interest by:
1. viewing the survey mark layer in the Spatial Information
Exchange Six Lite web page www.six.nsw.gov.au
2. contacting Survey Services, LPI, who will advise the location
and status of survey marks in the area
3. inspecting the site, paying particular attention to survey
marks located in the footpath/kerb and gutter.

Identification plates

If no survey marks are affected commence works.

Identification plates in rural areas help

to locate permanent survey marks.

The locality sketch plan (Survey Mark Sketches) should be

downloaded from the LPI Online Shop
http://shop.lands.nsw.gov.au see Specialised Searches.

If survey marks in the area

If survey marks are likely to be disturbed

or destroyed
Avoid disturbing or destroying survey marks by:

Star picket
Painted star pickets in rural areas
may indicate a survey mark in
the vicinity.

Tree blaze
A blazed tree may indicate a permanent
mark or a cadastral boundary corner is
located near by. It is most common in
rural areas.

1. diverting works to avoid disturbing the marks or

2. contacting a Registered Surveyor to place and survey a mark
at a more suitable site nearby to maintain survey integrity.
Any survey necessary to recover the position of survey marks proposed
to be destroyed may only be undertaken by a surveyor registered under
the Surveying and Spatial Information Act 2002 or by survey staff
authorised by the Surveyor General.

Report survey marks at risk of being destroyed

Look for the Survey Mark Status report at
http://scims.lpi.nsw.gov.au/status_report_frames.html

for more Information

www.lpi.nsw.gov.au
scims@lpi.nsw.gov.au
T 1300 052 637
Land and Property Information

Alignment marks
A destroyed survey mark

Alignment stones, posts,

pins and old stone kerbs are
important cadastral marks.

Head Office
1 Prince Albert Road
Queens Square
SYDNEY NSW 2000
GPO Box 15, SYDNEY NSW 2001
F 61 2 9233 4357
Disclaimer: This document has been produced for marketing and
communication purposes only. Images are used for artistic purposes only.
Information is correct at time of printing and is subject to change without notice.
March 2012 NSW LPI (B) P12/10/016